clouded dreams
by deathwing987
Summary: read and review
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

In the distance, a golden yellow cat with orange tabby stripes padded among the fields. Along came a gray tabby, a black tom and a white she-cat a few tail-lengths away.  
"Blazewhisker, are you sure we might find Aquaclaw?" the white cat asked.  
Blazewhisker just stared into the ground; she was the last one to see her when the badgers attacked BlazeClan. It was her fault that she hadn't been able to return with Aquaclaw.  
"Of course we'll find her!" snapped Wolfshade.  
Everyone stared at Wolfshade. Wolfshade suffered the most out of the patrol. His green eye glittered with vengeance.  
"Wolfshade's right. If we're going to find Aquaclaw we might as well try to sound positive." The gray tabby meowed.  
"Ivyleaf, why not come with me to search up north?" Blazewhisker asked.  
"Very well then, let's go, we're burning sunlight here!" Ivyleaf pointed out.  
The white tabby looked at the sun and saw that it was almost sun-high. They had started their patrol before the Clan had even woken up.  
None of them had told anyone that they were going into the Badger's Cave, even though they had to have permission from Petalstar. No one in the clan was allowed to go to the Badger's Cave borders unless Petalstar was in the patrol or gave them permission. The Badger's Cave wasn't always called by the beast' home, it was called Cave of Crystals. The Cave of Crystals had glittering crystals hanging everywhere, on the rooftop, the ground and on the walls. The Cave was for every cat, but the most mystical thing that happened in the cave was that whoever slept there will get dreams that carry messages, and also dreams that show what will happen a few moons after. However, a group full of badgers had just recently moved into the cave and killed many cats.  
Ivyleaf and Blazewhisker padded into the Badger's Cave borders. Ivyleaf opened her jaw to taste the air to see if the badger's scents are stale or fresh. Blazewhisker tipped her head and sniffed the floor. The yellow tabby saw a tuft of black and white fur. She dipped her head closer to the tuft to see if it were really a badger's fur.  
"By the scent of this fur it's fresh! We better not let our guard down or we'd end up like the dead cats we found in the Badger's Cave a few moons ago," Blazewhisker meowed.  
Ivyleaf nodded and unsheathed her claws in case of danger. The gray tabby looked around the area cautiously and kept clear. She knew the suffering of badgers because when she was an apprentice she was attacked by a badger and survived. Now she keeps an eye out for badgers, she almost lost her leg thanks to that badger but when she was in trouble Silentwing and Aquaclaw came to her rescue.  
"Be on the lookout for badgers or even StormClan." Ivyleaf mewed.  
Blazewhisker padded along the grassy land and searched for Aquaclaw. By the time she had reached the river she realized she was going too far from BlazeClan borders.  
"Blazewhisker don't go too far!" she had heard Ivyleaf yowl.  
She ignored the warning and kept on running further into the outside borders.  
She thought she had found something that might help her find Aquaclaw. It was paw prints that she had found on the sandy ground, it possibly looked like a cat's paw prints instead of a badger or a fox.  
Suddenly a loud rustling came from a bush behind her; she turned around but saw the creature dart to the next few bushes. Blazewhisker saw a brown blur whip right past her. One more time she spun around to see what was lurking in the forest. Then a ferocious paw smacked her in the face, leaving the she-cat on the floor. The paw unsheathed its claws and dug right into her chest; pinning her down onto the ground just like a trapped mouse.  
"Looks like we have another intruder!" spat the creature. Its icy blue eyes shone into the darkness of the woods; staring at the helpless warrior.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

A light blue-gray cat eagerly bounded across the forest floor. She looked up and saw the prettiest butterfly just floating above her; she got on all four paws and playfully chased the butterfly.  
"Remember Aquaclaw we're not here to play," a yellow tabby joked.  
Aquaclaw looked up at the tabby cat and smiled cheerily. "Blazewhisker, I was only chasing a butterfly! I guess I'm just eager to finally have some action after so many moons!" Aquaclaw replied.  
Blazewhisker nodded in agreement. The forest was at peace for so many days, nothing much happened until Falconwhisper's reported on a recent patrol that a group of badgers had approached the forest.  
Aquaclaw glanced up into the sun, its brightness shone onto Blazewhisker and Aquaclaw and bounced onto the trees and grass. She gazed into the clear blue sky, the pure white clouds floated around the atmosphere. Aquaclaw padded enthusiastically deeper into the forest.  
"Are we getting any closer?" Aquaclaw asked impatiently.  
"Faclonwhisper did say that the badgers were hiding in a cave somewhere. But I can't remember what the cave was called; did he say it was The Cave of Gems?" Blazewhisker meowed puzzled.  
Aquaclaw slid down the hill and glimpsed down at the cliff. There was a dark gray cave that gaped open a gigantic mouth that lead to eternal darkness. Beyond the cave a black and white creature crawled out of the cave, and then came a few more. Aquaclaw's eyes narrowed and her ears flattened, her lips curled into a snarl and her claws unsheathed, she crouched low onto the ground ready to pounce onto the badgers.  
The yellow tabby looked around the forest for Aquaclaw. She had run off without her yet again.  
"Aquaclaw? You've got to stop running off into the forest; you could bump into trouble if this keeps happening!" Blazewhisker called out.  
Suddenly a black figure appeared just behind Blazewhisker. She turned around to see a black tom cat with a white chest, he had a white front paw and a white tipped tail. The tom cat was carrying a piece of fresh-kill. His green eyes stared at Blazewhisker for a few moments and dropped the dead mouse.  
"Hey Blazewhisker, what are you doing here so early in the morning?" the tom asked.  
"Hi Wolfshade, Aquaclaw and I decided to find the badgers and chase them off of BlazeClan territory. She ran off into the woods again and hasn't returned. I just hope she's OK." Blazewhisker explained.  
Wolfshade nodded in agreement. He dug a hole and placed his fresh-kill there, and then he buried it into the ground.  
"I'll help you find Aquaclaw." Wolfshade meowed.  
"Alright, why don't you search east while I'll go north? We'll meet here in hour or so." Blazewhisker ordered.  
Wolfshade padded to the east side of BlazeClan borders and started his search.  
The tabby bounded to the north and opened her jaws to taste the air, and then she tried to smelling any of Aquaclaw's scents. After she had finished sniffing the mixed scents of the forest, she stood up and began walking further into the woods. However, she was disturbed by a battle cry that was heard from the southwest of the clan's borders.  
Was that Aquaclaw? Don't tell me she's gotten herself into another fight with LeafClan! Blazewhisker thought.  
The tabby ran to where the battle cry was heard from. She swiftly ran through the forest, leaping over logs and rivers and quietly dodging trees and rocks. Her eyes focused on the forest and objects that were in her way. Her ears pricked when she heard a yowl from an unfamiliar creature.  
That's not a cat's yowl! That must be the badgers. If Aquaclaw had just run into badgers then I have to help her! There's no way she could defeat all of the badgers by herself. Blazewhisker thought.  
Aquaclaw raked her claws across the rocky land and into the badger's face. She clawed her way through the badgers in one single blow. Suddenly another badger attacked her from behind and sank its teeth into Aquaclaw's leg. She yowled with pain and tried to scratch the badger away from her. She rapidly ran over to the badger that just bit her and pounced on it. However, the three other badgers charged into Aquaclaw mercilessly, and when she had fallen to the ground they tackled the helpless cat without thinking twice of guarding themselves. She pushed away the badgers with two blows and sprang onto one of the badgers.  
This is pointless! Whenever I attack them the others just attack me from behind. I need to figure out a way of knowing when they're about to pounce from the back while tackling one of them. If only Wolfshade were here! Aquaclaw thought. Never had she faced so many badgers in her life.  
She turned around to see one of the badgers running to her; ready to grasp hold of her body and dig its claws into her. She scrabbled to her paws and started running into the badger recklessly.  
Just before the final attack was delivered a black blur ran speedily through the battle area and went in between the badger and the cat. The creature unsheathed its claws and swung it across the ground and onto the badger's body, leaving the badger lie on the floor. The figure stood up and walked over to the body. It was Wolfshade! Aquaclaw smiled with relief. The tom pinned the badger onto the floor and made sure that the badger couldn't push away Wolfshade.  
"Aquaclaw, try to lead the badgers to a cliff or a river. I'll deal with this badger." Wolfshade ordered.  
Aquaclaw nodded and bounded over the rocky slope and onto the flat ground.  
She was happy to finally be on grass instead of rock but was still worried about Wolfshade. She turned around to see three badgers running after her with their thorn sharp teeth gritting. Aquaclaw led them to the nearest river and was about to jump over it until she heard yowls of pain behind her. She turned around once more to see five cats on top of the three badgers; all of them were dead.  
A white and gray cat with icy blue eyes stared at her. The tom had his claws unsheathed and his lip curled into a snarl. He stepped closer to Aquaclaw with a cold stare. It looked as if he were staring right through her soul.  
"Why have you come here?" the tom spat.  
Aquaclaw looked confused. What did he mean? She stared around the area to see that she had crossed BlazeClan borders and into CloudClan territory.  
"Look, it's not what it looks like! I was ju-"  
"It IS what it looks like!" the gray cat interrupted. "You've entered into CloudClan's territory!"  
Aquaclaw looked behind the group of cats and saw the gorse tunnel to CloudClan.  
"It's not my fault!" Aquaclaw tried explaining.  
"You're coming with us." A brown tabby meowed.  
"To where?"  
"To CloudClan, where you'll be taken as prisoner of course!" The white and gray tom replied.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Ivyleaf, Silentwing and Wolfshade bounded across the river and out of BlazeClan territory. Ivyleaf stared at the tufts of fur that Blazewhisker left.  
She heard a warning yowl, it sounded like a CloudClan's prisoner capture caterwaul.  
"Do you think that they got Blazewhisker too?" Silentwing asked.  
The gray warrior stared at the white cat; it was as if Silentwing had read her mind.  
"Or maybe she got lost and fell off a cliff or something," Silentwing joked.  
"I doubt it," Wolfshade responded; he didn't care if it were a joke, he just wanted Aquaclaw back.  
Silentwing stared at him; her eyes clouded with sympathy. So did Ivyleaf's.  
The forest was gripped of mournful yowls; even the birds had stopped their chirping and had watched to the cats miss Aquaclaw and Blazewhisker.  
The cats had stopped yowling but where staring at the ground miserably.  
Silentwing noticed that the way they were behaving were unacceptable.  
She stood up. "We can't just sit here and do nothing!" Silentwing protested, breaking the silence. "If we're going to find both of them then we better get ourselves into a better shape."  
Ivyleaf looked up and gazed into her eyes. "What do you mean?"  
"CloudClan aren't soft kittypets."  
"Of course not! No clan is." Ivyleaf replied.  
"And if they're not kittypets then that means they're not the weakest clans! Don't you remember a few moons ago an apprentice had driven off a StormClan cat and had left them severely injured?"  
"That warrior must've not known what he was doing," Wolfshade meowed.  
"Even if he knew what he were doing he would've still gotten injured, we'll have to pull ourselves together and get ready for a battle." Silentwing mewed.  
"Battle? What battle?" Ivyleaf asked.  
"We have to get Aquaclaw and Blazewhisker out by a battle with CloudClan. If we don't succeed then we're failures, if we do, not only we will get our warriors back, but we'll also get pride and victory!"  
The two cats stared at her briefly.  
"That's not bad, but what's our plan? We can't just barge into their territory" Wolfshade asked.  
"We'll have to create a diversion. We'll place two patrols: Patrol B is going to attack the front entrance that's going to cause a distraction and Patrol A is going to attack from behind. Once they hear that patrol A attacked from the back of the Clan, they'll run to go protect the nursery and the prison dens. Then patrol B will counter attack them so that they won't go any further. Patrol A will go rescue Aquaclaw and Blazewhisker and attack the warriors who are going to stop them from doing that. Patrol A cannot do their actions unless Patrol B has gotten CloudClan's attention." Silentwing explained.  
"Silentwing you're a genius!" Ivyleaf purred.  
_Excellent. Wolfshade thought. But who's going to be Deputy if Aquaclaw doesn't return? It's been days since she left, Petalstar had broken the warrior code…what if their ancestors punish them and they don't succeed?_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

"Very well, Silentwing." Petalstar meowed.  
Silentwing, Wolfshade and Ivyleaf have returned from their patrol and had told Petalstar about Silentwing's plan. Wolfshade had also mentioned that they needed a deputy before they do anything.  
Petalstar stood up and sprang onto the Great Rock. She called out all of the cats in the Clan and laid on the warm rock. It was leaf-green and the sun had baked the top bit of the rock.  
"I have asked you to come here to hear who'll be the new deputy of BlazeClan since Aquaclaw has been captured by CloudClan." Petalstar began. The cats of BlazeClan had gasped in shock; they obviously didn't want to change deputy since Aquaclaw was a loyal, brave and great deputy. "I say these words before the body of Aquaclaw, that the spirits of our warrior ancestors may hear and approve of my choice. The new deputy of BlazeClan will be…" Petalstar continued.  
Silentwing was twitching her tail with impatience; she wanted to get this over with and wanted to invade CloudClan.  
"…Silentwing!" Petalstar finished.  
The white cat's eyes widened in surprise. Why was she elected as deputy? Of course she had the qualifications; she had an apprentice that's now called Daisyheart and she is a warrior. But why couldn't she have chosen Wolfshade? He was more experienced than her at leading patrols, mentoring apprentices and also fighting.  
Ivyleaf nudged Silentwing affectionately.  
"Look at you! Now you're the deputy of BlazeClan." Ivyleaf purred.  
Silentwing wasn't sure if she were supposed to be happy or concerned. How could she lead a whole patrol on her own while rescuing Blazewhisker and Aquaclaw? She also had to make sure no one will be hurt or lost.  
Petalstar slowly padded back into her den. Her silky tortoiseshell coat glimmered under the sunlight. Silentwing bounded up to her before the den had roofed her head in shadows. The wind must've changed for she had turned around and stared at the young warrior.  
"Silentwing is there something wrong?" she had asked.  
"Not really, but why did you choose me? I mean Wolfshade was the one who had done heroic stuff lately. He deserves it more than I do." Silentwing explained.  
The cat closed her eyes and sighed. She opened her eyes once again and stared at the cat eerily. Was she hiding something from me? The question wafted inside the white cat's mind.  
She turned her head to the side and hadn't given her eye contact to the new deputy.  
"There is a reason why." Petalstar meowed.  
Silentwing thought that the sentence sounded weird to her. It didn't seem right…  
Petalstar padded into her den. She had left the cat in wonder and confusion.

*

"Alright, Wolfshade, Ivyleaf, Swirlpool, Feathercloud, Pineclaw, Thornheart and Duskheart will be in my team. The rest of you will create the diversion. Don't ruin this for us for it might be our last." Silentwing ordered.  
As soon as they had stepped into CloudClan borders a brown blur shot in front of them. It was Blazewhisker's apprentice; Weaselpaw.  
"I want to go too!" He demanded.  
"We can't have any apprentices injured, BlazeClan is losing too much cats lately. CloudClan is the main source of where those cats have gone to." Wolfshade replied.  
"He's right, you and the other three apprentices are the last apprentices left." Silentwing agreed.  
"But I can't let my mentor down and Spiritpaw is in there! She needs me more than ever." Weaselpaw mewed helplessly; he felt like a burden to the Clan because he had dared Spiritpaw into CloudClan borders to get a squirrel which had run into the territory.  
Silentwing bent down; paws in front of her muzzle. "Look, I know you feel like this all because of what had happened a few days ago, but CloudClan isn't a Clan to mess around with. You see-"  
"Who said I was gonna fool around?" Weaselpaw spat.  
"Look we don't have time with this! They're gonna spot us if we don't hurry! Let the kid just come with us just this time" Ivyleaf groaned impatiently.  
Silentwing sighed with annoyance. She absolutely hated when Weaselpaw had gotten it HIS way. Why couldn't Blazewhisker teach him how to be respectful and reasonable? She'd always say.  
"Keep yourself low on the floor now," Silentwing ordered.  
"I know, I know!" Weaselpaw snarled.  
You better watch your mouth. Silentwing thought to herself.  
Numerous yowls were heard in the distance. They knew that this was their chance to save the prisoned cats. They sprang out of the bushes and immediately jumped into the clearing. Weaselpaw, Swirlpool and Feathercloud pounced onto the nearest CloudClan warrior who were about to attack the rest of the cats. Pineclaw, Duskheart, Ivyleaf, Wolfshade and Silentwing barged their way into the prisoner's den. Duskheart and Pineclaw attacked the guards.  
The remaining cats looked around for the BlazeClan cats.  
Aquaclaw's light blue-gray tabby fur was easy to spot and Wolfshade rushed in to lick her cheek.  
"Wait where's Blazewhisker?" asked Ivyleaf.  
Everyone turned their heads in search for the missing golden yellow tabby cat. Sadly, she was nowhere to be seen. Only a gray-white cat, a brown tabby, a black warrior and an orange warrior were seen.  
"Spiritpaw!" Weaselpaw called out.  
The two apprentices bounded across the den to meet up and shared tongues.  
It was revealed that the gray-white cat was Spiritpaw.

The prisoned BlazeClan cats followed the rescue patrol out of the den, including Spiritpaw. The two apprentices ran beside each other; their paws moved in unison and their eyes were locked onto the path leading to the entrance of CloudClan. Silentwing realized how close they were to each other even if they weren't related.  
The diversion was a bad idea after all, the cats who were in the other rescue party had been injured severely. Numerous cats limped away from the enemy clan cats while others laid on the floor trying to get up and fight back. Silentwing never imagined this happening; she thought that it wouldn't take so long to retrieve the lost warriors. She unsheathed her claws and pounced on the cats so that the two rescue patrols could run away. One by one, she attacked each and every cat that had tried to stop them from running away.  
"Silentwing what are you doing?" Ivyleaf asked watching her pull the cats away from them.  
"Just run, I'll catch up with you!"  
"But we can't leave you here not when there's a whole bunch of cats ganging up on you!" Aquaclaw meowed back at the new deputy.  
Wolfshade nudged Aquaclaw. His look told her that she'll be fine. Aquaclaw stared at Wolfshade then at Silentwing. Without any warning Ivyleaf pushed Aquaclaw into the forest. Wolfshade bounded into the bushes and Blazewhisker led the rest of the cats into the forest. Silentwing watched as the cats fled. Until one apprentice had been cornered by the rival clan. The helpless cat was Spiritpaw!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

The white cat clawed her opponent and bounded across the clearing and pounced onto the cats. She chased them away from the helpless apprentice. The brown cat stood on its paws and tried padding away. When the cats had ran back into their clan, Silentwing zoomed over to the apprentice.  
Meanwhile, north from CloudClan territory a bunch of Twolegs were sitting around a fire. Its raging flames swiveled around the Twolegs, showing its scarlet body. The Twolegs stabbed the blazing fire with a stick that had a white blob stuck onto the edge of the twig. Another Twoleg had brought some firewood and thrown it into the fire sending dozens of ember around the forest. Embers flickered around the area; it flew around the forest and landed right onto a log. Suddenly the ember transformed into a fire, and then it spread around the clearing. The fire now looked like a line of flame colored cats preparing an attack. The fire cats bounced and played around the forest and turning the woods into a crimson forest only that the trees were covered in ash.  
Silentwing dashed over to the helpless cat and picked up the bundle of fur by the scruff of the neck. She jumped over a log and tried to run away. However CloudClan sent reinforcements over to stop Silentwing from escaping. She was outnumbered; five cats were chasing her through the woodlands.  
"Wait!" shouted one of the reinforcement cats.  
Everyone looked back at the cat that had stopped them from running. Silentwing didn't stop to look around; she was trying to get back to her territory before anything bad else happens. For what she didn't know was that she was heading straight into a wall of fire.  
The white cat stopped in her tracks just a few tail-lengths away from the fire. She stepped backwards as the wind blew the fire forwards. There was nowhere to run; the fire had surrounded her. Two nearby trees fell as the fire cats pounced onto the tree trunks, they climbed to the top and hung onto the tree's branches. The smell of smoke gripped in the air and engulfed the white tabby cat's nose.  
_Not good! I can't get to BlazeClan territory and if I inhale too much smoke I'll die! What's even worse is that I have to make sure this apprentice doesn't share the same fate._ Silentwing thought. She turned around to see an opening._ I have no choice…_  
The white warrior charged at the clear space. She dodged the flames that were pouncing around the clearing. The gray apprentice squirmed and wiggled trying to get out of Silentwing's grip. The apprentice wanted to run away from her and find Weaselpaw instead.  
"Let me go! I can take care of myself!" Spiritpaw retorted.  
Silentwing glared at the apprentice. "You'll only get yourself into trouble! You might even get caught on fire if you're not careful enough so let me do this since you're not a skilled warrior!"  
The gray cat scowled at her. "I can TO take care of myself! And I AM a skilled warrior!" Spiritpaw knew that she wasn't a warrior yet but still wanted to prove Silentwing wrong since she hated it when other clan cats told her what to do.  
At last, they had escaped from the forest fire that was destroying the woodlands. The white tabby cat rolled onto the grass in order to get away from the fire that was spreading. She had tumbled across a cliff and landed on a cold hard surface. The she-cat noticed this familiar place and had put the apprentice down. Spiritpaw dashed away; looking for Weaselpaw around the rocky land.  
As she begun to recognize the setting, she padded farther and farther away from a cave. It was the Cave of Crystals. She remembered how the badgers settled themselves in the cave and how dangerous it was to enter. Then a strange voice had called out from the cave, pawsteps were heard in the mouth of the cave. A silhouette was padding from the dark shadows.  
"Silentwing!" the silhouette called.  
_How did it know my name?_ Silentwing thought.  
"Who are you?" Silentwing asked puzzled.  
The shadow emerged from the dark cave, stretching its paws. It crawled from the darkness and energetically bounced outside. The light shone onto the mysterious stranger to reveal a golden-yellow tabby. She had sky blue eyes and a silky furry tail. It was obvious who it was.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

"Are you mouse-brained? What are you doing here?! Don't you know that there are BADGERS in there?!" Silverwing snapped.  
Blazewhisker merely giggled at this. She was used to other cats shouting at her for being careless anyways. The pale golden tabby laid on the floor with her tail curled around her paws. She had started licking her paws as gently as she could since walking on the hard stone floor had hurt her paws. Silverwing simply twitched her whiskers in irritation because of how calm the cat was enough to laze around in a deadly place.  
"You don't care do you?" Silverwing sighed. At that moment the yellow cat smiled and giggled even more. "You're starting to worry me…"  
"Look inside the cave. I wouldn't be here if there were actually any badgers here at the moment." Blazewhisker snickered. The white cat sighed once more and padded over to the lazy cat. She sat next to the younger cat and shared tongues with her. The white warrior stared at the cat confused.  
"Wait; weren't you captured by CloudClan cats?" Silverwing asked still puzzled.  
"You did see the forest fire right? The Twolegs usually come there to camp and they make fire out of wood. And I decided to attack the warriors-" Blazewhisker explained.  
"How could you be so reckless?!" Silverwing interrupted.  
"If you had looked closely, you would've realized that they're really skinny and could barely walk." Blazewhisker looked at the floor, her mind clouded with thoughts. "CloudClan was never so hungry before…"

**Somewhere...outside the forest**

A yellow tabby was holding a milkshake cup that she stole from the Twolegs. She was padding along the streets of New Tornto. She stopped at a dead-end and rested her paws on the icky garbage water. The yellow cat had put down the cup and tried to bite off the cap but failed. Lotus pricked her ears, she heard a set of pawsteps behind her, she turned her head to see a black cat padding towards her. He had rippling muscles and the same birthmark that she has on his flank. He had worn a purple bandana that was placed around his neck. The cat had yellow eyes that stared right at her.  
"Who are you?" Lotus asked. She approached the stranger in a flirting kind of way, slowly approaching the cat. The cat had brushed her tail around the newcomer's nose. She seemed so interested in the young cat that interrupted her dinner.  
The black cat glared at her but was blushing a bit.  
"The name's..." The cat hesitated. He didn't want to tell the yellow cat his embarrassing kittypet name. "...Shadowfang..."  
"Well Shadowfang, want to share?" The cat asked. She bounded over to the milkshake and back. She was placed the bottle in front of Shadowfang. "My name is Lotus."  
The black cat twitched his whiskers in starvation. He was desperate for food but remembered the poisonous food his two-leg gave him (you'll find out what happens soon). He spun his head around.  
"No thanks, I don't like food that comes from Two-legs." Shadowfang told her.  
Lotus' eyes darkened with sadness. She sighed and smiled slightly. Her pupils widened with happiness when she had thought of an amazing idea.  
"Come with me!" Lotus exclaimed. Shadowfang stepped back and flushed rapidly. Obviously, he had taken her quote differently.  
"W-what?!" The black cat shouted. Lotus nipped his left ear playfully.  
"You idiot, I didn't mean it THAT way" Lotus explained. The tabby grabbed his bandana and stared into his eyes. "Let's go find a place to live in. And when we're looking for that certain place we could live in alleyways like these." The black cat thought about it for a moment. He looked up to the sky; it was a jet-black blanket that stretched above the land with its twinkling stars glittering brightly.  
"Come on let's go already!" Lotus yelled. She pulled his bandana in a playful way. He finally decided to follow her. His smile disappeared when he saw Lotus naively bounding into the Thunderpath without realizing that a monster was passing by.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6

"Lotus watch out!" Shadowfang yowled. He zoomed onto the Thunderpath and pushed Lotus out of the way. The monster skidded to a halt, sending the creature spinning in circles, its ferocious paws stepped onto Shadowfang's leg. The poor black cat yowled in pain. After the monster had released its paws off of Shadowfang, it had screeched and had laid on the Thunderpath motionless.  
"Shadowfang, are you ok?" Lotus asked anxiously. She stared at his bloody, but not severe, injury. "Looks like you may not be able to make a long journey now. Wait here I'll go get some help"

Blazewhisker got up to her feet and padded into the cave.  
"Hey where you're going?" Silverwing asked angrily.  
"Follow me," Blazewhisker ordered. The white cat sighed but followed her. The cave gradually got darker until they reached a clearing which got brighter. In the middle were glowing purple rocks gathered around each other, spurting out from the top to form a shape similar to a hedgehog.  
"You lead me to a cave." Silverwing stated. She hunched herself over and stared at Blazewhisker. "Look, Blazewhisker let's just go home already. I don't want to be staring at a pile of rock all day."  
"When I was held prisoner and had defeated the CloudClan warriors the only safe place was here. There were many patrols hanging around our territory so I slept here for the night. When I slept here I received a dream!" Blazewhisker meowed.  
"And the dream contained some sort of message?"  
"Not exactly. It only told me to go and find you."  
"And it told you to stay here for the night while Aquaclaw was held prisoner." Silverwing meowed sarcastically.  
"Actually…it did. How'd ya' know?" Blazewhisker purred. The white tabby stared at her in disbelief.  
"So you decided to sleep in this…this cave…instead of rescuing your clan mate…?!" Silverwing yowled. "I can't believe you'd-" the white tabby sighed, turned around and padded to the entrance.  
"Wait, don't go that way!" Blazewhisker warned.  
Suddenly, giant boulders had fallen from the top of the cave to the entrance. The boulders had blocked the only way out and had blocked the only way in as well. The white tabby she-cat pounced onto the boulders, scraping her claws on it and trying to dig her way out. It was no use, the boulders kept them out from the forest. Only a few light rays had beamed through tiny holes that the boulders couldn't reach, however the holes weren't big enough for even a kitten to squeeze through.  
"That's what happened when I had stayed here to rest." The golden tabby explained.  
Silverwing spun her head round and jumped off the boulders and she bounded up to Blazewhisker.  
"Then how did you escape? How come there weren't any boulders when I came?" the she-cat questioned.  
"Because Wolfshade and Aquaclaw came!" Blazewhisker meowed eagerly. Her smile faded away when she turned round and pointed her tail to two shadowy figures. "But since our warrior ancestors told me to bring all of you here I guess we're ALL stuck here until we find some way to get out of here."  
The shadows moved closer to Silverwing to reveal their shiny pelts. One of them had black and white fur and the other had a blue-gray pelt. The one with black and white fur had gleaming green eyes and the blue-gray cat had sparkling blue eyes.  
"What're we even DOING here?" Silverwing demanded.  
"Calm down. We just need to spend here one more night and that's it." Aquaclaw reassured.  
The white tabby sat down. Her paws shuffled anxiously together and her tail curled around her paws. "Hopefully we'll be able to get out of here soon"  
Aquaclaw and Blazewhisker exchanged looks, they padded beside the white warrior. The gray she-cat licked Silverwing's cheek understandingly; she knew that Silverwing had been chosen as deputy and she knew that if the warrior hadn't returned by sunset tomorrow, Petalstar would choose another cat as deputy. "Come on." Aquaclaw meowed. "Let's go." The she-cat stood up alongside with Blazewhisker and padded deeper into the cave. The remaining two warriors followed making Aquaclaw lead. Within a few minutes they arrived to the gemstones. Each cat had laid down next to a crystal, settling themselves for a very long sleep. The first cat to fall asleep was Aquaclaw, then Blazewhisker and then Silverwing. Wolfshade gazed into the purple glowing gem before his eyelids dropped into sleep.

Silverwing found herself surrounded by trees. The full moon shone onto the forest as her pelt glimmered underneath the trees. She started padding further into the woods not recognizing where she was. The white warrior heard a faint whisper behind her, when she turned around she saw nothing but glowing white feathers falling onto the ground. The she-cat turned back around to continue padding until she saw a cat standing on top of the rock in front of her. The warrior had light blue eyes, it was a gray she-cat with white socks (or white paws) and she had pretty white wings.  
"Hello there!" The she-cat smiled. "I must thank Blazewhisker for obeying my orders. Now then, first things first; I must tell you-"  
"Hold it! I don't even know your name yet," Silverwing interrupted.  
The angel cat beamed. "Well my name's Swiftheart. And I suppose you're wondering why I have wings. Since I died I was appointed messenger" She jumped off the rock and padded towards Silverwing.  
"Messenger? I thought cats from different clans who die just live up there." Silverwing meowed looking up at the sky.  
"Look I don't have time and I need to tell you something. Blood will spill and bones will rattle, the rise of evil will begin if not stopped soon. Monsters will attack and so will cats. Looks can be deceiving…" Swiftheart explained very quickly.  
"Wait, what? What do you mean?" Silverwing asked still confused. Swiftheart ignored the question. A beam of light pointed to the rock indicating Swiftheart that she had to go but representing Silverwing simply just as normal light rays shining onto a rock.  
"I have got to go now, I'll explain more next time and hopefully we'll have a nice chat!" Swiftheart mewed happily. The gray she-cat pounced onto the light and unfolded her wings; flapping them while running towards the light.  
_Great another Blazewhisker…_Silverwing thought. The gray cat reminded her of the peppy young she-cat that seemed to see things on the _bright_ side.  
Everything was silent. Silverwing didn't understand why her dream hadn't ended, so she padded back to where she came from the start until a yellow blur jumped out of some bushes.  
"Hey there!" It was none other than Blazewhisker. After the pale golden she-cat pounced out of the bushes, Wolfshade and Aquaclaw appeared.  
"What're you doing in my dream?!" Silverwing demanded an answer also a bit surprised by their appearance. "And why are you covered in mud and twigs?"  
The black and white tom sighed. "Unfortunately, Blazewhisker happened to find a beehive and _accidently_ knock it over also barging into us on top of a muddy hill. We stumbled into some brambles and bushes, which we got stuck into some of the branches."  
Aquaclaw purred with amusement. "Blazewhisker you've got to look where you're going next time. And since we're sleeping in a sacred place near each other, we get connected dreams"  
"Creepy." Silverwing responded. This just made the others giggle and purr. Aquaclaw turned her head around looking into the bushes.  
"Well I guess we should go back and meet up with Ivyleaf and Echowish." The blue-gray she-cat suggested. With a swift and silent pounce, she plunged into the bushes; waving her tail to signal them to follow her. The others obeyed and stalked her shadow through the thicket of bush branches.  
At last they arrived to a clearing, which was struck by moonbeams giving the sight a mysterious yet magical scene. Silverwing stepped into the moonlit clearing, she watched out for stones for her paw pads had been hurting ever since she started walking. She opened her jaws to taste the air, and then she sniffed the blue-green grass. Wolfshade was bounding over to Aquaclaw to join her on top of a rock while Blazewhisker had pounced clumsily into a bush to catch a mouse, but her hunger got the best of her making her yowl loud enough for even a deaf cat to hear muffled noises.  
"Are we supposed to stand on top of that rock?" Silverwing asked jumping onto the rock to join the two. A yellow bundle of fur rolled out of the bushes; her fur fluffed up and had been decorated with even more twigs. She got to her feet and bounded over to the other three and joined them on the rock.  
"Yep. We just have to wait until light shines onto the rock." Blazewhisker replied. She laid down on the rock brushing off the twigs on her fur. Aquaclaw had sat down beside Wolfshade sharing tongues while Silverwing just stood there anticipating for something to happen.  
It took forever but finally the light from the moon shone onto the rock. Silverwing felt like she was being pulled up to heaven. Aquaclaw raced up into the clouds and disappeared. Blazewhisker did the same before Silverwing could open her mouth to stop her.  
"W-where did they go?" Silverwing asked Wolfshade. Wolfshade stared at her reassuringly. For a moment Silverwing thought that he meant that they had just died until the black warrior had seen her face.  
"I didn't mean it that way." Wolfshade laughed. "Besides if they had known this would happen then why would they run up to their death?" Silverwing thought for a moment and realized he was right; who'd even do that in the first place?  
Her thoughts swirled around her mind until she had returned from her own little world. Wolfshade had already gotten halfway to the clouds, he looked like he was flying but without wings. He beckoned his tail to show her that he wanted her to follow him, of course, she did. The white tabby had padded over to join him to the clouds. When it came to the end of the very small flying journey to the sky, Silverwing stepped into the white fluffy bushes and gained the courage to jump into it.

It felt like waking up from bleeding on the rocks. But after a few seconds the pain faded away. Silverwing lifted her head up and glanced around her surroundings; still a little bit dazed from the dream and the fact that her friends were spiritually or physically in her dream. The white cat got up to her paws but immediately fell forwards as soon as she started walking. She was pinned to the ground with her face fronting the floor. She looked up to see a light blue-gray she-cat standing playfully on top of her.  
"Morning!" Aquaclaw meowed cheerily. The white warrior wasn't annoyed by the young cat since her voice seemed to put a smile to everyone's face. Wolfshade was lying on the floor gazing into the gemstones while Blazewhisker was rolling on the floor like an idiot.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7

A dark gray she-cat yawned after waking up from her sleep. She padded out of her den only to bump into Ivyleaf.  
"Erm…Sorry Ivyleaf." She hesitated. Ivyleaf's eyes were burning with determination and anxiety, her pupils were narrowed and her claws were unsheathed. "Something the matter…?"  
Ivyleaf faltered; not knowing where to start. "Echowish, we need to find Silverwing and the others. They're missing! Again to be exact." She finally meowed. "We have to go search for them. Who knows what trouble they've got themselves into right now?"  
Echowish nodded and bounded past her. She gathered some cats from BlazeClan camp. In a flash, she returned to Ivyleaf looking ready as ever.

"Are you telling me that we should keep sleeping like hibernating squirrels until we get saved by our fair prince who's come to rescue sleeping beauty?!" a voice yowled in the darkness. However it wasn't Silverwing's voice; it was Aquaclaw's voice. And she was yelling her head off at Blazewhisker for being such a lazy warrior by getting ready to have a nap on a nearby rock.  
Blazewhisker yawned, her bored expression showed up on her face for the first time in moons. "So do you have any other bright ideas?" Aquaclaw thought for a while; her face emotionless. The golden warrior decided to look around until Aquaclaw came up with anything. A yowl of excitement exploded into the cave, the tabby had been digging something at the edge of the cave.  
"Come on, come on!" she exclaimed. "Aha!" the golden tabby meowed in happiness. "Look! Just now, I found a tiny hole so I decided to dig a bigger hole for all of us to fit in. Now we could leave!"  
A rush of excitement and relief flooded in all of the cats. Silverwing dashed to the hole and double checked if it were big enough for all of them. "She's right! Come on, time to get out of this stupid cave!" the silver warrior nodded. Wolfshade had allowed Aquaclaw to go outside first, then Silverwing and then Blazewhisker. Finally he had crawled underneath and bounded back to Aquaclaw's side.  
"We better get going; it's almost sun-high." Aquaclaw pointed out. Her tail lashed enthusiastically, after purring she ran to the front of the cave. Followed by Blazewhisker, Wolfshade picked up the pace too, bounding across the stony floor and meowing happily. Silverwing was just about to join them until she heard some rustling in the bushes; she turned around to find out who was there. Only a yellow blur was seen and had vanished deep into the woods behind the cave. The white warrior decided that it was probably just a kittypet lost in the woods, so she united with her friends once more and made their way to BlazeClan territory.

After the sun had set

"Petalstar, I'm afraid to say that we couldn't find Silverwing and the others anywhere. When we had searched around our borders, we decided to start looking for their scents but it was stale and had ended in the middle of the forest." Echowish had explained. Ivyleaf nodded as a sign that she had been telling the truth. Petalstar nodded and padded outside only to see cats surrounding the missing cats from the day before. The tortoiseshell cat's eyes widened in surprise. Soon she let it go and had padded over to the cats.  
"Um, welcome back Silverwing, Aquaclaw, Blazewhisker and Wolfshade." Petalstar began. "Let us have a feast for your return." A gray warrior hiding in the shadows snarled at them. He widened his eyes when a golden tabby pinned him to the floor.  
"Come on, Stony, let's have some fun! You really need to lighten up sometimes." Blazewhisker mewed happily. 'Stony' had clenched his fangs together.  
"Let's make this straight, Blazewhisker; my name is not 'Stony' it's Stonepelt! Get it right next time!" Stonepelt lashed his tail furiously at the younger warrior's playful action. He pushed her paw aside and stood up; stalking back into his den.  
Blazewhisker just stared expressionlessly. _I bet if he had a family and some friends, he wouldn't be so gloomy all the time…_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 8

A rodent who had a splash of brown fur, scurried along the clearing. The mouse sniffed around and found a nut. He tried to reach out for it but was plummeted to the floor and its skin met sharp white fangs that dug into the rodent's fur. In his last few moments of living, he saw a gray she-cat with gleaming blue eyes had been the cause of his death. Echowish picked the dead animal by the scruff of his neck and padded back to the patrol.  
In the patrol were Wolfshade, Ivyleaf and Aquaclaw. Aquaclaw had been burying her fresh-kill in the mud so that she could come back to it later after she had finished hunting. Wolfshade had arrived with a squirrel in his mouth and Ivyleaf had been carrying a mouse just like how Echowish had.  
Aquaclaw glanced up at Echowish after she had finished burying the corpse. A smile planted on her face when she saw the mouse hanging from her jaws.  
"I think two or three more fresh-kill would do it." Aquaclaw meowed.  
Echowish nodded and turned around to get more, she raced through the trees until she passed by something yellow. She retrieved back her steps and looked at the cat lying on the floor, struggling to take off a collar. She relatively looked like Blazewhisker and even had similar body strength like her. It was surprising that she was a kittypet. However, Echowish didn't know she was one; in fact she thought it was just Blazewhisker.  
"Um…Blazewhisker, how did you get that collar?" The gray cat asked. The golden tabby immediately looked up at her; revealing her ice blue eyes.  
"Who's Blazewhisker?" she asked. Her eyes widened when she realized she was with a forest cat. She stumbled backwards, claws unsheathed in defence and fur fluffed up in tension.  
"You don't belong here do you? How did you end up here?" Echowish smiled faintly, she purred to assure the scared cat that she was no harm to her. Yet. Of course she'd have to chase her out of the forest but first she needed to know how she ended up here.  
"What do you mean? I was born here as a kit and was taken away from here. I think I deserve to be sent back to my clan; SunClan." The cat defensively spat back, her eyes narrowed.  
Echowish's eyes widened in surprise. SunClan had mysteriously died one day just before the badgers came into the forest. Many had been taken away or left to become a Twoleg's pet. No one ever returned or survived.  
SunClan was known for their territories; it was really bright over there, therefore it had lots of shadows underneath trees and stuff. They were known for their hiding skills to attack any intruders with considerable daze upon the opponent. CloudClan and SunClan were like allies because of how they were close together, they shared similarities and how they looked after each other in the past.  
"Hmm…that'll be a problem now that SunClan no longer exists…b-but you're very welcome to join BlazeClan," Echowish hesitated. What if Petalstar refused? What if she had punished her for being so gullible and listening to a kittypet who she didn't know very well? She could mention how BlazeClan could use more warriors. "I'm pretty sure Petalstar wouldn't mind having one more warrior in BlazeClan."  
The golden furry cat stared at her; her eyes clouded in thought. No matter how much Echowish looked at her, it still looked like Blazewhisker only with a purple collar on. Sure she had differences; a much cleaner fur than the tomboy, an orange dipped tail instead of a tabby marked tail. "I suppose it wouldn't do cats any harm." She shrugged. "Name's Shellsoul (yes I'm fully aware of the warrior in the real warrior cats series has the same name XD)."  
"My name is Echowish. Come, let's introduce you to the others," Echowish smiled. "But first; I don't think you'll be accepted with that collar on your neck…" She grasped onto the collar with her fangs and clenched her jaws together; Echowish pulled it until it finally made a SNAP noise.  
With a wave of her tail, she signalled Shellsoul to follow her back the way she came. The gray warrior caught some squirrels and a mouse on the way. Aquaclaw stared at the stranger and glanced at Echowish who padded over to them and explained everything.  
"I see…Do you think Petalstar would tolerate this?" Wolfshade asked. Her gazed at her for a long time, causing Aquaclaw to raise a brow, then gazed at the other she-cat and slowly her claws unsheathed in defence…even if she didn't have any brows.

Blazewhisker looked up and down at the cat, a bored look on her expression. Petalstar was in her den discussing some stuff with their medicine cat, and the group had returned with Shellsoul trailing behind. Blazewhisker had been guarding the gorse tunnel with no one else.  
She then turned to Aquaclaw and stared at her for a long time before finally speaking to one of them after 7 minutes of staring very rudely at the new cat. "Mind explaining?"  
"Hello there, Blazewhisker. Glad to see you're in a good mood." Shellsoul tried greeting in a nice tone.  
"You've met before?" Wolfshade asked. He glanced at the golden tabby with a messy pelt, then at the one with a cleaner pelt.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 9

"Mm..." with that, Blazewhisker nodded still looking uninterested and bored. Her eyelids halfway closing her eyes making it seem like she had just woken up from a long sleep. "We've met at the Thunderpath. Many times before in the past. Including the battle with SunClan."  
Aquaclaw looked confused as to how she didn't notice Blazewhisker going to the Thunderpath during the day or leaving the camp suspiciously. Wolfshade blinked at the two hostile cats and sighed, it would take a long time for them to get used to each other. He decided to move away from the scene and waved his tail for Aquaclaw to follow; it didn't make sense just standing around here all day. They entered their leader's den, blocking sunlight from the hole. They dipped their head respectively.  
"Yes?" Petalstar asked. Her eyes glimmered in the dark and her pelt camouflaging in the den.  
"Petalstar, we have brought a cat into our clan. Her name is Shellsoul and is said that she has been in SunClan. She has somehow survived and Blazewhisker seemed to have already met her in the past." Wolfshade began the conversation.  
"Shellsoul?" Petalstar asked flicking her tail tip. "She used to be in our clan." She paused, thinking over something's. "She may be welcomed into the clan. However, I want all of you, including Silverwing and Blazewhisker, to look after her. Make sure she doesn't come up with anything funny, she has been in SunClan a lot longer than in BlazeClan."  
With that, Aquaclaw and Wolfshade nodded and padded out of the den. They came across a scene where Blazewhisker was growling at the spitting image of herself, snapped back at her and stalked off under the shade of a tree. The two exchanged glances, then decided to head over to Shellsoul and inform her of her acceptance in the clan.

Dusk broke out into the forest, light moon rays shone onto the trees and grass. A certain dark golden tabby padded out of the gorse tunnel, her fur glimmering under the moonlight. Her eyes glinting and her paws scuffling against each other every pawstep of the way. She came across a certain boundary between CloudClan and BlazeClan. Her eyes landed on the first thing that had moved in the wide open area. A silver gray tabby had disbanded from his patrol in search for the source of the noise which was coming from Shellsoul. Her claws unsheathed, her fangs gritted against each other and there was a murderous look in her eyes. Tonight there will be blood…  
Unfortunately, a certain other tabby was following her around just so she could make sure she wouldn't do any funny business. Who else would be so cautious of the said golden tabby? None other than Blazewhisker of course. She may be part of BlazeClan but that doesn't mean she gets to do whatever she wants. When the dark golden tabby got ready to pounce at the CloudClan cat, Blazewhisker had lunged in at her. She pinned her to the ground with an unsheathed claw and glared daggers at the warrior.  
"What the heck is your problem?" Blazewhisker spat. She pressed her paw into her chest some more for a few moments until she decided to let go. The tabby warrior couldn't wait to tell Petalstar what had happened and try to convince her that Shellsoul could not be trusted.

It had been a few days since Shadowfang had been run over by a car. His foot had been healed and the two had been trekking through various places. Mostly roads, towns and forests. During their long journey they had been stealing food from nearby houses that were stocked with lots of sweets, meat and fruits. They were searching for a place to live, mainly in a forest since Shadowfang didn't like going near Twoleg neighborhoods. They stopped at a certain forest which had not much Twoleg activity around there.  
"Well, what do you think? Shall we check it out?" Lotus asked. Shadowfang nodded his head in response. They both padded deep into the forest, smelling different scent markers around the areas. The two had past StormClan boundaries, padded away from LeafClan territory, bounded around BlazeClan area and left CloudClan terrains.  
"I think we should stay in that place." Lotus pointed to BlazeClan's boundaries with her pale yellow tail. The black stray cat nodded in agreement and walked towards the place while beckoning Lotus with his tail for her to follow. Soon they both crossed paths with a waterfall and decided to see if there was anything behind it. Sure enough, they were able to sleep there, even the water that was crashing onto the river from the ledge didn't make too much noise to disturb them from their slumber.

"Get your fat butt over here you stupid furball!" A certain golden yellow warrior growled at her identical.  
"I already told you; I'm not leaving!" Shellsoul snarled back. When Blazewhisker was about to retort back, a sudden yowl of pain echoed through the forest; causing the two to whirl their heads to the direction of the noise.  
It was the silver gray tabby from earlier and was being attacked by a reddish brown cat with a white belly. Shellsoul's ice blue eyes narrowed when she recognized the warrior. He was from StormClan and wasn't really trustworthy and was the one to declare war easily. It was Dawncloud.  
"Out of my way!" Shellsoul spat; pushing Blazewhisker until she fell to the forest floor. Blazewhisker got up really quickly and decided to help her even if she wasn't trusted in her eyes. The dark golden tabby pounced onto Dawncloud who wasn't expecting the blow and was swept his paws off of the gray tabby that had yellow eyes. Blazewhisker bounded over to the laying gray tabby; thanking the heavens that he was still alive. Picking him up by the scruff she noticed it was an old friend of hers called Skyheart. He was called that because of his free spirited and his never ending dreams which he always says something cheesy like 'Look up to the sky and you'll accomplish your dreams'. Weird cat…  
Suddenly, a screech of pain was heard nearby and Blazewhisker set Skyheart down in a spot that was safe from the battle. He hissed in return; she didn't have the right to treat him like a baby.  
Bounding up to the fallen cat, the golden tabby warrior gasped when she saw Shellsoul lying limp on the floor with Dawncloud about to give a final blow to end her life. After all, she was a kittypet and Dawncloud was a fierce warrior with amazing strength.  
"No!" Blazewhisker yowled, jumping into action.


End file.
